


Talk Therapy

by Cornerofmadness



Category: Angel: the Series
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-06
Updated: 2020-01-06
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:34:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22140376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cornerofmadness/pseuds/Cornerofmadness
Summary: Angel and Illyria are having nightmares
Relationships: Angel (BtVS)/Illyria (AtS)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 1
Collections: Bite Sized Bits of Fic from 2020





	Talk Therapy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Emmatheslayer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emmatheslayer/gifts).



> **Disclaimer:** Not mine, Joss Whedon owns it
> 
> **Notes:** written for Emmatheslayer at comment_fic for the prompt: Angel the series, Illyria /angel going through ptsd together. This takes into consideration (briefly) the Angel comic books.

XXX

Angel sat bolt upright, a cry dying in his throat. He shook hard, all the way to his toes. He’d been back there again: hell. Not the hell Buffy had sent him to but the one they all had been hauled to once the war against Blackthorn had ended. His son had died there, slain by Gunn. It didn’t matter that it had all been erased. They were back in L.A. now. Gunn wasn’t a vampire any more and Angel was one again. Connor was alive but the dreams of losing all his friends and family haunted him far too often.

Pushing himself out of bed, Angel wandered downstairs, grateful the curtains were pulled as he could feel the sun was still up. He was glad Spike was still somewhere asleep. That’s all he needed after having a bad night. Aiming for his office, he heard a noise in the basement where they had their work out area. He changed trajectory to see who it was. That Illyria was down there wasn’t that much of a surprise. The fact she was trashing a work out bag was.

“Illyria, something wrong?” he asked.

She slammed her fist into the bag and followed with a spin kick before tossing her hair back. Her cold but somehow beautiful blue eyes studied him. “This shell is doing something to me,” she snarled.

“How so?” He jogged all the way down the stairs.

Illyria tapped a finger against her temple. “I shut my eyes and scenes of great violence play in my head, violence not at my hands but perpetrated against me. It leaves this shell sweating and shaking.”

“Ah, yeah that’s not exactly your shell’s fault.” Angel shrugged. “Or maybe I should say, it’s just how humans work. I have the same issues. That’s why I’m awake now.”

She closed the distance between them. “What does it mean? Why are humans so…dysfunctional?”

He spread his hands. “I have no answer for that. The problem has been known as many names. Hell, when I was alive, there was no name for it. Soldier’s heart, shell shock, now it’s called post trauma stress disorder. When we’re put through a terrible trauma, it leaves mental scars. Dreams like you’re having is just one of the things that can happen. There are other things, a lot of them.”

“Make it stop. I don’t want this!” She pushed his chest.

“No one does and if I knew how to make it stop I would.”

“So, humans just suffer?”

“Yes and no. There are medicine but I don’t like the chances of it working on either of us, seeing as I’m technically dead and you’re an Ancient One.” He snorted. “Talking it out is supposed to help.”

“Have you tried?”

He made a soft humming noise, thinking back to talks with Buffy especially when he had tried to commit suicide, of long discussions with Cordelia and Doyle. “A little. Sometimes it does make the burden better. Want to come upstairs and we can talk?” Angel held out a hand.

She smiled softly, almost looking like Fred again for a moment. She took his hand, locking fingers with him. “I would like that very much.”

Angel led her back upstairs, doubting that talking it out would help fast enough to suit Illyria but felt fairly sure he could convince her to agree to more talks. Even if it didn’t help, he’d enjoy the time alone with her but he held out hope for some relief and time with Illyria. It would certainly be good for him.


End file.
